2 Black Friday Shifting its centre of gravity In 2018, Black Friday falls on 23rd November, the earliest since 2012. Tim Denison takes us on atour of the history of this prominent date in the retailcalendar, identifies some successes (and failures)along the way, and offers some thoughts as to whatthe next few years might bring. Black Friday: its heritage From humble beginnings in Philadelphia some 50 yearsago, “Black Friday” has become a global retail phenomenonthanks largely to the internet and the media. The Salesextravaganza was originally conceived as a one-day bargainbonanza in shops, to be held on the day after ThanksgivingDay in America, designed to kick-start the Christmasshopping season.In actual fact, it only became a national US fxture in the1990s and only surpassed the Saturday before ChristmasDay as the busiest shopping day of the year there in 2005.But since then it hasn’t looked back. In 2011 Walmartcontroversially opened its stores on the evening ofThanksgiving Day, breaking the midnight curfew for the frsttime. Today it is no longer a 24-hour national sprint, but amulti-day international marathon loved by the media awe- struck by the speed and spread of its advance. Black Fridayis no longer a store-based event with Cyber Monday nowfollowing on its tail as its online counter-part. Such is theomni-channel nature of retailing today that the promotionalperiod has melded into one. Stepping out Black Friday found its way across its frst country borderin 2009, with American retailers launching it in Canada,despite their own Thanksgiving Day being held a monthearlier than in the United States. That same crusadingapproach has served American retailers very well since. In2010 Amazon introduced it to the UK. The following yearthe likes of Apple, J Crew and Bloomingdale’s took it intoAustralia. And in 2014 Macy’s and American Apparel Inctook up the pioneering challenge in China via Alipay.American retailers had learnt quickly that they couldbeneft from introducing the event in markets in which theyhad no physical presence. It just required a viable onlinechannel and competitive shipping rates. The global marchcontinued into 2015. Then, e-Bay got the “Black” ball rollingin India, despite the fact that the festive season of Diwali isalready over by the end of November. Over the years it hasmorphed from being purely a bricks-and-mortar occasion,to an omni-channel one. Retailers in their home territories have generally joinedthe action when the Americans have led it, but in othercountries they have taken the initiative frst. A group ofRussian and Austrian entrepreneurs were the frst to bringBlack Friday into Russia, attracting hundreds of prominentonline retailers to take part in their promotional ‘000 BlackFriday’ website. In 2013 a weather white-out accompaniede-tailer CDON’s introduction of Black Friday into Sweden.In 2014 the domestic grocery retailer, Checkers, initiatedSouth African shoppers to the world of Black Friday.It is now a global phenomenon. From Spain to Senegal,from Israel to Iceland, shoppers around the globe now enjoythe November bargain-fest. In 2017 global sales on the daywere 6 times greater than a regular Friday, according toBlack Friday Global, headed by shoppers in Pakistan whospent in excess of 100 times as much. By comparison, USshoppers spent 20 times their typical Friday expenses andBritish shoppers 15 times as much. However, it is not a total whitewash. The jury is out incountries where discounting is heavily regulated, such asFrance. There, footfall on “Le Black Friday” fell by 16.1% lastyear compared to the year before. Black Friday is no longera store-based event withCyber Monday followingon its tail as its onlinecounter-part. 3 Black Friday: A timeline1960s: Term frst used in Philadelphia, in the wakeof the post-Thanksgiving trafc jams 1980s: Black Friday is used to describe the pointin the year when the retailers start to make a proft 1990s: By this time, it’s a national fxture in theUnited States 2005: Black Friday overtakes the Saturday beforeChristmas Day as the busiest shopping day of theyear in the US 2009: American retailers export the concept overthe border to Canada 2010: Black Friday comes to the UK 2011: Australia joins the party 2012: Unscrupulous e-tailers ofer phony sales inBrazil 2013: Online entrepreneurs launch Black Friday inRussia 2014: Scufes break out in UK stores as shoppersrush to take advantage 2014: Checkers introduces Black Friday in SouthAfrica 2014: Black Friday loses its place as busiestUS shopping day of the year - a trend whichcontinued in 2015 2015: eBay introduces Black Friday to India 2016: First time Black Friday takings in the USfrom mobile devices exceeded $1bn on a singleday 2016: Alibaba’s Singles’ Day knocks BlackFriday of the perch as the world’s most popularpromotional event. 2017/18: Amazon Prime Day 2018 outstrippedAmazon sales between Black Friday and CyberMonday 2017 A great Americanexport There are many great things to have come out of America,but is Black Friday one of themMost shoppers will invariably be advocates, enjoying theopportunity to buy sought-after goods at knockdownprices. Whether they are for Christmas gifts or for their ownconsumption, everyone loves a bargain. Yet we have seen adarker side to Black Friday. Thousands of households weredefrauded by unscrupulous e-tailers in Brazil ofering phonysales on “Black Fraud Day”, 2012. In the UK, bedlam brokeout in stores across the country as overzealous shoppersfought for prized booty on the infamous “Black and BlueFriday” in 2014. For retailers, the event has its disciples and its critics. Someargue that Black Friday does little more than pull forwardfestive sales and threaten margins rather than grow thesize and value of the whole cake. They argue that it risksundermining consumers’ willingness to pay full prices, justwhen they are gearing up to loosen their purse-strings for aChristmas splurge. Rich pickings for shoppers patently cancome at a cost for retailers.Others see Black Friday as a potent tool to boost seasonalsales artifcially, with the potential to also grab market sharefrom competitors. They argue that consumers have reallyconnected with the concept of Black Friday and so, playedcorrectly, it can make a signifcant contribution to a retailer’scofers.4 Black Friday Shifting its centre of gravity Whatever their perspective, it is generally acknowledged byretailers that Black Friday, once introduced into a market,soon becomes an established fxture in their promotions’calendar, and will remain so at least for the short term. AsJohn Lewis’ MD Andy Street put it in January 2015 “I don’tthink we can put the genie back in the bottle.” Five steps to success Every year there are new lessons to be learnt from BlackFriday. Getting it wrong can have serious consequences fora retailer, given its size and its profle with the media. Our topfve steps to a successful campaign are as follows: 1. When it comes to Black Friday, there is no suchthing as over-planning. Determine well in advancewhat to promote, when to promote and how to deliverin a proactive, managed way. And work hand-in-handwith suppliers to avoid nasty surprises and knee-jerkreactions.2. Agility is key. Black Friday is a disruptive eventwhere demand is impossible to predict. Social mediahas the capability to spread news (good or bad) withalarming speed. It can mobilise the shopping massesto descend on the best ofers like plagues of locustssweeping through felds of crops.3. Manage shopper numbers entering stores.Overcrowding invariably damages the customerexperience and risks grabbing the news headlines forall the wrong reasons. 4. Stress-test logistics’ capacity and end-to-endexecution. The short window of heavy discountingcan create unprecedented demand and all too easilyoverwhelm the normal running of operations. Asonline shopping has an intrinsically more importantcontribution to make to Black Friday it’s not just buil